Martin and Karen's Natural World

Wildlife and Landscape Photography by Martin and Karen Plant

Africa

Kenya Animals

Kenya Animals

PUBLISHED:

This is the third and final gallery from our 2004 safari to Kenya with Gustafson Photo Safari. It’s been an enjoyable project to go back through these images, reselecting and re-editing favourites. For the photographers reading this all the images were shot raw and all have been reprocessed with Lightroom CC (2019). All look much better than the original 2004 conversions. Keep your raw files!
On this safari we visited Lake Naivasha (including a walking safari on Crescent Island), Samburu, Lake Nakuru and the Masai Mara. We had lots of fantastic situations with great subjects. Some of our lifetime portfolio images are in this collection. We hope you enjoy them.

Wildebeest Crossing the Mara River

Wildebeest Crossing the Mara River

PUBLISHED:

Twice a year the migratory herds in the Mara-Serengeti region migrate in search of fertile grazing. That involves a treacherous crossing of the Mara river. Going north in the spring and south in the autumn. We were very fortunate to witness a crossing on our only visit to the Mara in 2004. Many seasoned photographers have never seen one. The crossing is perilous and the herds gather for days before summoning up the courage to make the crossing. Once the first wildebeest goes it is bedlam with beasts leaping into the water in a frenzy. Hazards are many, broken limbs are common and fatal. Nile crocodile await and can easily drown a full grown wildebeest. We were pleased to see the whole herd cross without incident. Photographically this was a challenge, in part because of the limitations of the 2004 era digital cameras and in part because the scene was just so exciting to witness that it was difficult to concentrate on getting great images.

Birds of Kenya

Birds of Kenya

PUBLISHED:

These photographs were taken in 2004 on a safari to Kenya with Gustafson Photo Safari. We visited Lake Naivasha (including Crescent Island), Samburu, Lake Nakuru, and the Masai Mara. The variety of wildlife that we were able to photograph was spectacular. Here is a selection of the bird images from that trip.